Explain · Like I'm five version
Quantum Physics in terms of Chocolate Buttons
Do you know that tiny bits of the world act just like a bag of chocolate buttons?
Imagine you have a bag of chocolate buttons in your pocket. Quantum physics says that before you look in the bag, the buttons are not in one spot. They are sort of everywhere at once, like a blurry chocolate cloud. They are in your left pocket, your right pocket, and under the sofa all at the same time. The buttons do not pick a place to be until you reach in and peek at them.
When you finally open the bag to look, the magic stops and the buttons pick a spot. This is what scientists call collapsing the wave function. It is like the buttons were shy and dancing around in the dark, but then they froze the moment the light hit them. Even if you are a very clever scientist, you can never know exactly where every button is hiding before you take a look.
Sometimes, two buttons become best friends and share a secret. If you move one button to the kitchen, the other button knows what happened to its friend straight away, even if it is all the way in the bedroom. They are linked together in a special way that scientists find very strange and wonderful. It is as if they are both holding onto the same invisible piece of string forever.
Where the analogy breaks downChocolate buttons do not actually teleport through solid walls when nobody is looking.
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